Darius Jones: An ‘Eco-Hero’ for his work with urban agriculture

Chicago, IL, USA. Darius Jones was born and raised in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood on the city’s west side. He first became interested in urban agriculture while serving a five-month sentence in the Vocational Rehabilitation Impact Center’s garden program in 2010. In 2011, he enrolled in the nine-month Windy City Harvest Apprenticeship program and received his certificate in October of that year.

He began working as the sales coordinator for the program, increasing sales by 100 percent for each of the two years that he had that role. Today he is the coordinator of the McCormick Place Rooftop Farm. In 2013, WBEZ Radio named Darius an “Eco-Hero” for his work with urban agriculture ventures in Chicago. In 2014, he was named one of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Employees of Distinction, and was also awarded one of six “Golden Beet Awards” by the Illinois Stewardship Alliance for the “other varieties” category.